Minister of the People, Social Development and Family Services Vandana Mohit says she intends to roll out plans and initiatives to clear the backlog of social service grants and ensure they reach people in need quickly but faced a major hurdle of staffing some of the departments.

At the prize distribution ceremony of the ministry’s Spoken Word Competition at the ministry’s headquarters on St Vincent Street, Port of Spain on May 24, she said, “In the coming weeks, it is our intention to revamp the delivery of social services to the poor and vulnerable in a speedier fashion.”

Speaking to Newsday after the ceremony she expanded on her statement saying although many services were available there were challenges when it came to the resources trickling down to those in need.

She said she noticed backlogs with senior citizens, pension, disability, disaster relief and public assistance grants, and many people who applied had been waiting for a long time. She was waiting for an update on a report before she gave more information on the local boards which administer grants, how people could get their grants fast-tracked and her plans.

Mohit outlined some of the ministry’s aims and challenges as well as the commitment to address them saying, “I always work towards resolving issues and, bit by bit, I'm going to take every department in this ministry and deal with the challenges hands-on and ensure that people are happy with the service they're receiving from the Ministry of the People Social Development and Family Services.”

She said there were some challenges with the local boards so the ministry was working on matching them to the Gazette, which officially assigned government agencies to ministries. She said most were fully functional but, where there were none, the ministry would ensure their establishment in the coming months.

She revealed she was having many meetings and site visits to ensure the ministry’s facilities were operational. She said many were “nice” and were open but there was a lack of staff for the operations to begin at these facilities.

“So once these operations get on stream I can foresee us dealing with poverty and dealing with the issues facing women and children in our society.

“Accessibility, inclusivity and equity are some of the most important things to me here in this ministry.”

Disabled signage coming

Mohit promised her ministry would be keeping in line with government policy and the UNC's manifesto regarding reviewing social programmes and meeting the current needs of the people.

She said she received complaints about the means test and it will also be reviewed as it was causing some of the needy to be disqualified for assistance.

When Newsday asked if the ministry would be looking into President Christine Kangaloo’s call to put more efficient legal processes in place for a caregiver to help manage the affairs of people with Alzheimer's disease, she said there was a lot in store for the physically and mentally disabled in terms of government policy. Kangaloo made the pl